Home > Advocacy and Media > Press Releases and Statements > 2017 > AILA: Job Creators Again Stymied by Outdated Cap

AILA: Job Creators Again Stymied by Outdated Cap

AILA Doc. No. 17040735 | Dated April 7, 2017

CONTACTS:
George Tzamaras
202-507-7649
gtzamaras@aila.org 		Belle Woods
202-507-7675
bwoods@aila.org

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that the agency has once again received more than enough H-1B petitions within the first five business days of the fiscal year 2018 filing period to reach the annual cap of 85,000 new visas.

William A. Stock, President of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) responded to the announcement noting, "The H-1B program is intended to ensure that employers can fill specialty occupation needs in our workforce on a temporary basis. These positions are vital to business success, allowing American companies to be more competitive, boosting growth, and creating jobs for American workers here in the U.S. These job creators are stymied however by the artificial limits established more than a generation ago, which hobble America's future. Once again, USCIS will randomly select petitions to determine those that will have a chance at the 85,000 available visas."

Benjamin Johnson, AILA Executive Director said, "With unemployment below 5% and an economy hungry for skilled, educated workers, why are we hampered by the arbitrary limits on this program? Instead of a lottery to funnel only 85,000 of the petitions through the process, this entire operation should be driven by market demand so that the program meets the legitimate needs of our country. Each year that we limit these visas with an artificial cap, we stifle economic growth and all of us lose out. It is an irrational system. Our immigration laws were written more than a generation ago, when Google and Amazon weren't household names, before Twitter, Facebook, and social media itself existed. Every year that goes by without action on this and other necessary legal immigration reforms means countless opportunities lost."

###

The American Immigration Lawyers Association is the national association of immigration lawyers established to promote justice, advocate for fair and reasonable immigration law and policy, advance the quality of immigration and nationality law and practice, and enhance the professional development of its members.

Cite as AILA Doc. No. 17040735.